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LEESBURG, Va. - Three people who
allegedly sent America Online customers millions of junk e-mail messages
touting penny stocks and other Internet gimmicks went on trial Tuesday in t=
he
nation's first such felony case.

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/span>

The defendants are=
being
tried under a 2003 Virginia anti-spam law that prosecutors say is the harsh=
est
of its kind in the nation.

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/span>

The three face up =
to 15
years in prison if convicted on all three counts.

<=
/span>

Assistant Attorney
General Russell McGuire told jurors that on one day alone in July 2003,
defendant Jeremy Jaynes sent or attempted to send 7.7 million e-mail messag=
es
to AOL customers using false identities or bogus company names. The goal of=
the
messages was to sell software that would allow a person to work from home a=
s a
"FedEx refund processor" or that would help them pick the right p=
enny
stocks.

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/span>

He said the suspec=
ts
used false identities to evade AOL's spam filters.

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/span>

"When you mas=
querade
your identity, that's when you have a problem," McGuire said.

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/span>

Defense lawyers
countered that sending spam is not illegal under Virginia law unless
prosecutors can prove that the defendants intentionally masked its origin a=
nd
can prove that the junk e-mail was unsolicited. They said prosecutors will =
be
unable to meet that burden.

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/span>

"Marketing vi=
a the
Internet is not a crime," said Thomas Mulrine, attorney for defendant
Jessica DeGroot. "It may be annoying to you, but it's not a crime to
market on the Internet."

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/span>

Jaynes and DeGroot=
, who
are siblings, and the third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, are all from the
Raleigh, N.C., area, but are on trial in Virginia because they allegedly se=
nt
their spam to customers of AOL, which has its servers at its Virginia
headquarters.

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/span>

While other states=
have
passed spam laws in recent years, Virginia authorities say theirs goes furt=
her
than others because it gives prosecutors the power to seize assets from tho=
se
sending bulk e-mail while imposing up to five years in prison.